MEANING OF “FALLEN FROM GRACE” IN GALATIANS 5:4?
May 15, 2019
READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
“David, what does ‘fallen away from grace’ mean in Galatians 5:4?”
Dennis Rokser and Tom Stegall do an excellent job of answering this question.
Galatians is Paul’s defense of the Gospel of grace against the attacks of legalistic false teachers. In Galatians, the apostle teaches that the Law cannot justify the sinner (2:16), nor sanctify the saint (2:20; 3:15). Only God’s grace can accomplish these!
If the Galatian believers (“you,” 5:1) were to embrace these false legalistic teachers that were infiltrating these churches, they would be “estranged from Christ” (loss of fellowship with the Lord, as a husband and wife, can be estranged but still married) and will have “fallen from” the principles and teaching of grace.
Nowhere does this passage state that they would lose their eternal salvation. Also interesting is the fact that “falling from grace” would not involve living in overt sin, as the phrase is normally used; instead, in the context, it means reverting to a performance-based relationship with God by trying to keep the Law.
Those within the Galatian church described in Galatians 5:4 had fallen from grace only in the sense that they no longer viewed grace as solely sufficient for their justification and sanctification. They fell from grace by rejecting it and replacing it with something else—works of human merit.
The example of the Galatians proves that even genuine children of God, who have believed the gospel, can later reject the gospel and return to a state of unbelief and apostasy.
Sources Used
Rokser, Dennis. Shall Never Perish Forever. Grace Gospel Press.
Stegall, Thomas L. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints. Grace Gospel Press, chapter 5.